Comments on the 2011 London Classic (FIDE Open etc.)

[John McKenna]

In the 2009 w/e event all went well for me until round 4 when I was paired with a foreign player. He didn't arrive and I was soon approached by an official who told me that my opponent had been late every round.
It was my only loss.
In the 2010 FIDE Open things were tough - after 4 rounds I had 1 point - and had played two home and two away players without incident. Round 5 I was against a foreigner about 200 pts higher then me. As he began to lose he developed a constant sniffle & terrible cough...

[John McKenna]

... I took the warning to heart.
Duplicate post that can be deleted - thanks.

[John McKenna]

... The sniffing & coughing of my opponent must have been audible to most in the hall but nobody (including me) said a word about it. I won.
Next day he seemed almost completly cured. But, when I opened a sweet wrapper the English player (not M. White) looked daggers and I took the message to heart.

[John McKenna]

In the 2011 Amateur event I played only 'homies' but in the final round the following happened on the next board -
Two foreigners were paired and only one arrived on time. He took white, made a move and started black's clock. Some time later his opponent arrived and minor confusion ensued. The latecomer was supposed to be white not black so Alex H (I believe) had to go through contorted motions to put them right.
What's my point?
It is a big international event - people will come with different customs, etc.

[John McKenna]

I'd just add to the above that although there is a 'team' officiating/organising they are a group of individuals, not (ro)bots.
I am sure they are all trying to do their best and to keep intervention to the minimum in order to smooth things along. At times this may not work well, and rarely, not at all.
Finally, the comparison of what happened at the end of the 2011 British and the incident M. White refers to at the 2011 (originally I wrote Classic) London Junior Championships does need some scrutiny.
Organisers can ban offenders.

[John McKenna]

Apologies for repeating myself, I'll edit it later. And, for clarity, I believe that Malcolm Pein's Daily Telegraph col. of Tue.28th Feb. has a game of Michael White's from e2-e4 Brighton in which he defeats top-seed, GM Rausis in the style of Shirov!?

[Michael Jones]

As I've previously mentioned, I played in one of the evening blitz tournaments at the 2011 LCC, and am happy to say that I had absolutely no complaints about any aspect of the organisation.

[E Michael White]

As I've previously mentioned, I played in one of the evening blitz tournaments at the 2011 LCC, and am happy to say that I had absolutely no complaints about any aspect of the organisation.

How is that relevant to players having to endure distractions in main events ? Carrying the jocular nature of Blitz into main event organisation is a mistake.

[Michael Jones]

As I've previously mentioned, I played in one of the evening blitz tournaments at the 2011 LCC, and am happy to say that I had absolutely no complaints about any aspect of the organisation.

How is that relevant to players having to endure distractions in main events ? Carrying the jocular nature of Blitz into main event organisation is a mistake.

The relevance is the fact that the blitz tournaments were part of the LCC, and hence comments on them fall into the category of comments on the LCC; I presumed that the inclusion of the "etc." in the thread title meant that it was not intended to be restricted to comments on the FIDE Open only. As I'm sure you noticed, the blitz tournaments were held in a different room so as to avoid having the rapid movement of pieces and pressing of clocks take place in close proximity to players in other events, which would indeed constitute a distraction - unlike the placing of a sign on the arbiters' table, which I can only imagine causing a distraction if the sign was thirty feet high and spelled out in flashing lights.

[Carl Hibbard]

Another ethanol enthused Troll?

Any chance of keeping to the point now Michael with your first post back or would you like another spell on the sidelines?

[Carl Hibbard]

Maybe you could make the ban permanent this time?

I have some patience and am quite willing to give you a chance if you feel you can add some benefit with your thoughts to the forum?

[Michael Jones]

Another ethanol enthused Troll?

I'm happy to take a breath test, if that's what it would take to refute your arbitrary and entirely baseless supposition of ethanol infusion.

[Carl Hibbard]

Carl; where's the moderation?

Goodbye Michael, see you in 7 days - this is your second ban so the next one will be permenant

[John McKenna]

The best potential 'notice' from an arbiter that I have seen is in the BCM issue of Aug. 2011. In 'Ask the Arbiter' Alex McFarlane writes about the following:
The annoying opponent - what can be done varies... there are different categories (The Cougher & Sniffler... The Shoogler [Scottish for a vibrating person]... The Rattler, Clicker, Muncher... [The] Anti-Social Behaviour[ist]).
Perhaps notice boards at future events could include a copy of the article? (With Alex & BCM permission of course.)

[Michael Jones]

It's very weird to be posting boring, off-beat, sober comments at 2:44am on a Sunday morning.
If I were you, I wouldn't let the Sambuca Sharks hear you say such a thing.
In terms of being arbitrary, go and reread the thread titled, "Not Sure Championship Relevance" (which you contributed to).
You will find the connection in there, unless you are a complete ******.
Carl; where's the moderation?

It's none of your business what time I choose to post on here - and you can tell that to the Sambuca Sharks if you really want (or think they'd care).

Wherever the moderation is, it certainly isn't coming from you.